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Friday, November 18, 2016

In 1989 Danny Elfman was primarily known as that guy from Oingo Boingo who's composed a small handful of scores for a few quirky comedies. Naturally no one thought he was right for the big blockbuster Batman film but thankfully director Tim Burton was the only one who rightfully had faith in the composer.
Elfman's sprawling Gothic theme of grandeur helped bring a certain level of cheeky sophistication to the film and entirely redefined the cinematic Batman figure as suitably dangerous. The score isn't afraid to engulf itself into the darkness but not once does it lose the sense of fun and wide-eyed excitement. It's big, bold and brassy with flavors of tragic heroism, the lonely romantic and the criminally insane. A definitive Elfman score that no fan of the composer, Batman or scores in general should be without.

5 beautiful dreamers out of 5

Songs of Note: The Batman Theme; Descent into MysteryIt should be noted that this particular album has seen 4 separate releases but La-La Land Records' 2010 double-disc release is definitely the most comprehensive collection to date.

Before the release of each installment of his Family Tree trilogy, Radical Face put out a free EP of songs that didn't quite fit with the rest of their respective albums.
The suitably titled The Bastards is a complete collection of all 11 songs in a tidy little package that is just as quality a listen as each of the trilogy albums are. These aren't throwaway songs by any means and in fact some songs are stronger than the albums they were originally meant for, they just didn't mesh with the pacing or tonal textures of their immediate family. They are the mismatched black sheep if you will. Twisted and quirky but still pack in enough heart to break and mend it with warm caring tired hands.

Based upon Raymond Briggs' graphic novel, director Jimmy Murakami (who also faithfully adapted Briggs' The Snowman) was lucky to hire ex-Pink Floyd member Roger Waters to score When the Wind Blows.
David Bowie's title track is another highlight of the soundtrack album. However the four remaining songs leave much to be desired if you haven't already fallen asleep. Waters' contributions sound like a prelude to his Radio K.A.O.S. 1987 solo album and that's all right because they're simply pleasant pieces in bits or as a whole track. It's not a must-have album but certainly a quaint little record to revisit every once in a blue moon.

Joe Volk's first album since leaving Crippled Black Phoenix, 2016's Happenings and Killings, is a familiar yet subtle departure from his previous works.
With production help from Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury it means careful attention was paid to the gentle yet complex production and rewards with each subsequent listen. Volk channels a low-key acoustic tone that is subtly complimented with soft electronics and the occasional string textures. There's slight echoes of Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys and Radiohead but never enough to mistake it for anybody else other than Volk. His prog-rock influences are still evident but it focuses more on being a haunting singer/songwriter project that raises the bar with opening track and only gets better and better with each track.

The soundtrack to director David Lynch's batshit crazy road-trip rom-com Wild at Heart has been a staple in my music collection since it's 1990 release.
Dramatically opening with a suitable snippet from Strauss' swan song Four Last Songs, the album is quick to bounce all over the musical map. There's tongue-in-cheek speed metal, the obligatory finger-snapping Badalamenti jazz, Chris Isaak oozing sultry drama over reverberated guitars, scrappy rockabilly toe-tappers, lush orchestrated string pieces and all topped off with actor Nicolas Cage crooning like The King. As incohesive as it all sounds it's still a tight little package of dreamy madness that reflects the schizophrenic nature of the film itself.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

After a second brush with death, Canadian rock act Sum 41 made a full sober recovery (with a new drummer and the return of guitarist Dave Baksh) to release their sixth studio album, 2016's 13 Voices.
For a guy who had to relearn how to walk, talk and nevermind play guitar, frontman Deryck Whibley has managed to put together a pretty solid record brimming with passionate urgency and furiously harsh melody. It starts out with seething anger that rivals Screaming Bloody Murder's finest moments but slowly morphs into suspicious hope as the record comes to a close, making it feel almost as if were a concept album. The Sums, with their fusion of hard rock and melodic metal, have no interest in re-living in their goofy Beastie Boys-esque pop-punk past and it's a very welcome addition to the sudden 2016 pop-punk revival.

Spending well over 30 years as the grand-fathers of foul-mouthed pop-punk pranksters NOFX get a little more serious on their 2016 album, First Ditch Effort.
They might not be as instrumentally experimental as they have been on their past few albums and instead they trade it for the strongest vocal harmonizations to date. They haven't been this aggressively melodic or enthusiastic in over a decade and it kicks ass. As much as I like them NOFX seems to pump out the same record over and over doesn't make them a staple in my collection. However when I'm in the mood for their retreaded brand of thrashy pop-punk then it's solid albums like this that are a definite go to.

After losing squeaky-voiced guitarist Tom DeLonge to higher ambitions yet again, veteran pop-punkers blink-182 (vocalist/bassist Mark Hoppus & drummer extraordinaire Travis Barker) recruited Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba as a suitable replacement.
2016's California should have been a reinvention of sorts, considering the appetizing experimentation the band was dabbling in with their previous records. However they played it safe here and produced a pretty standard blink-182 record of yesterday with the added minus of some embarrassing joke songs. There's a small handful of great songs and potentially tasty melodic moments here but it's mostly overly-polished boredom that might have actually been a bit more interesting with some rough edges here and there. As a return to form it's an average record but as an album that sets out to prove something it's pretty weak.

12 years after their previous record, Cool to Be You (which was a reunion of sorts as well) the Descendents cough up with their 2016 comeback record Hypercaffium Spazzinate.
With the band all being over the age of 50, it's time their lyrics grow old with them. Vocalist Milo Aukerman tackles getting fat, illnesses, losing friends and struggling to remain cheery and true to oneself throughout the not-so graceful age progression. Unlike most of their pop-punk peers, Descendents (and NOFX) have never had interest in changing their sound and instead opt to play tighter in their comfort zone which surprisingly hasn't gotten too stale over the years. Sure there's a few cringe-worthy "out of touch grandpa" moments but it's to be expected and makes it all the more honest.

After a public meltdown resulting in rehab, two members getting cancer and a trilogy of commercially and critically unsuccessful albums it seemed like it was time for Green Day to call it quits. So naturally, 2016's Revolution Radio was definitely an album that is set-up with something to prove.
Sadly they do nothing of the sort and rely on the safety of the same type of predictable cheese and Hot Topic "danger" they've been riding with since 21st Century Breakdown. There's a few good songs in the mix but as a whole it's not the album that is going to win back the older fans they've lost over the years. Sure it's a little more focused than the misdirected trilogy previous to that but it still feels like it's running around in circles trying to figure out how to top American Idiot. Oh well, at least Rolling Stone & People magazine probably think it's risque punk album of the year and not the half-decent pop album that it really is.